BreyerFest Prep: Lesson Learned!

With just three weeks to go, many collectors are scrambling to prepare for BreyerFest. Whatever facet of the hobby you are involved in, there is prep to do - making lists of models to track down, finishing dolls or custom pieces, inventorying sales items, making plans for Zoom meet ups, and more.

I set up a room on the Road to BreyerFest Sales and Trade site to test selling in a place other than my Facebook page. Sales started coming in so quickly that I could not keep up with them. I fulfilled the orders that I got, declined taking any more, and then decided I would stick to selling from my Facebook page for now.

Sales are also booming there, plus I am going to a live show in August and will be selling haversacks at the show, too. With all the selling that I have done recently, it was time to take inventory and see what I had and what I still needed to make.

Yesterday I pulled out all the tubs of completed haversacks and got started.

I've long wanted to have a list of models that will fit each size of haversack that I could give to buyers. While most hobbyists can visualize if a haversack will fit more common models, I wanted to be sure that those seeking one for a lesser known mold could find what they wanted, too.

Haversacks were strewn about the sewing room as I measured and sorted them into size piles and then made up a list of models that would fit.

Just because the model is part of a line or scale (traditional, classic/freedom, etc.) doesn't mean that all models in that scale will fit the haversack.

For example, the new Maggie Bennett Mustang is a classic scale piece, but it is long with reaching forelegs, has a wide tail base, and its head is turned a bit to the side. That affects how it fits into a haversack.

So, in addition to having patterns for Breyer's scales, I also make what I call "odd size" patterns for haversacks. Tucked inside each of those is a card with a list of models that it will fit. (I put a card in each inventoried tub so I knew what was in it.

I inventoried towels, too, but I didn't tackle the ornaments. I did those a while back and had not made any recently so their numbers hadn't changed.

Pony pads in a variety of sizes - people like these for more fragile models like chinas and use them to lay the models down at shows so they don't get knocked over and break. I make both foldable as well as non foldable pony pads.

With six tubs full of haversacks, pony pads, and towels, all sorted and prepped, I am in pretty good shape for BreyerFest and the August live show.

Still on my prep list? Making some wider haversacks for long, stretched out models like Dundee, the Shagya Arabian, and Bristol.

I've learned an important lesson - have a very large stock of haversacks before going to high traffic selling sites, and limit custom orders to a pace that allows a one-seamstress operation to handle the demand and still enjoy what she is doing.